the official nVidia specs for the chipset are a maximum junction gate temp of 90C. that being said, people have noticed thier overclocked stability decreased with the chipset temp at or over 60C. most users say that by keeping their chipset temps under 50C that it will keep your overclock stable, but it does not mean you'll get a better overclock. it's just for stability purposes.

most people use the Evercool chipset cooler. forgive me, i don't have the model number right off the top of my head. or you can just do it the ugly way and zip tieing an 80mm fan to your case somehow and have it blow right on the chipset fan. only problem with keeping the OEM chipset fan is, that it's a POS. it'll start whining at you after a while then stop completely.

if you'd like to find the evercool chipset cooler that everone uses, i'll go and dig the model number up for ya.

why dont they come with the tiny little MB connector though? hmm..I know I picked some up before for computers taht had the exact connector on them so I did not have to hook them to the power lines.

Heat have come down to 59celcius with the side off the case and a 80MM fan blowing directly on it..doesnt seem to be helping much. that darn REMOTE temp is still at 51celcius too..hmm..really wish I knew what that was.

I will be going locally tomorrow, only day the old ball and chain has off, to see if any of the local stores have anything. We really only have 1 place that carries a bunch of parts, and a couple places that carry a FEW parts.

Mike

are any of those above the model number your were talking about my Mistress woohoo

oh and I dont overclock - I have a nice Zalman fan on the cpu, but I just dont see the need to try and get 200mhz more...now 500mhz-1ghz more at stock cooling..I would overclock everything ;) Or maybe I am an idiot and just dont understand how to do it right..that could be also..lol

the evercool is too big to fit on my gigabyte MB because of the hsf I have on the cpu

that one above has 7cfm in a 2-pin connector, so it is really close the the evercool.

Mike

and NO - I havent replaced them yet - I still have the beefy 80mm fans blowing on both mb chipsets and the one gf4ti4200 video card - and I have 2 more case fans that died - I need stock in a fan company!

Ok, well I got some nice 20mm chipset fans, but now I need to find screws. I have been searching locally, but the only thing that even comes close to looking like my small chipset fan screws ( 10mm ) are the sheet metal screws with the point on the end. I really dont want those! Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction? All of the machine screws I have been looking at have tiny threads, while mine have the same threads as the sheet metal screws.

Want phillips heads also, or square drive, jost not plain slotted.

I have searched Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and True Value, and all have the same things..

size/type, etc would be appreciated.

Mike

Will the smaller threads on the machine screws turn into the heatsink ok?

There are no nuts, they just screw directly between fins on the heatsink....there are hold down plastic tab things to hold the heatsink on to the chip, but the fans are screwed direct into the heatsink - do threading or anything.

Most of the one I have had are like this, but I never tried to use 20mm high fans before...*sigh*

I did actually think of Velcro, but I would be afraid the heatsink would melt the backing zip ties would have nothing to hold on to.

I think I am going to just grab some #4 screws that are 1 or 1-1/4 inches long, and that should do it.

I will try the machine screws first and see if the tiny thread patterns will work.

Never thought a simple fan replacement could get so difficult and here i was going to take the heatsinks off and put some Arctic Silver 5 under them..LOL..I will have to think on that one REAL hard before i do it